Good morning everyone! The region is reporting clear skies, with temperatures in the single digits around most resorts. Winds are calm in the lower elevations, and between 5-10 mph on the summits. A classic winter morning here in the northeast! Conditions are fair-good out there for the resorts. Yesterday’s high temperatures only rose a few degrees above freezing, so melting has been at a minimum. Here’s a beautiful look at Killington: 

Today will see temperatures similar to yesterday’s, as highs will climb into the upper 30's around the resorts. Expect a thick snow pack to carve though, as the top layer of snow will melt slightly throughout the day. Conditions should be good if you’re heading out early though; it will remain below freezing until the start of the late morning. There won’t be any kind of precipitation today, so you don’t have to try and plan your day around any kind of rain. Head on out there as soon as you can everyone, you’ll get some good runs in before the afternoon if you do!

A round of rain will move across the region very early Tuesday morning, and linger as scattered showers throughout the day tomorrow. This precipitation is associated with a warm front that will move through NE, which means snowy or mixed precipitation in the higher elevations isn’t likely. North of the Whites, expect a decent amount of rain to fall on the slopes. This will won’t help the snowpack, as conditions will deteriorate from the new rainfall. If you are heading out this Tuesday, it might be wise to head to southern resorts like Pats Peak, or Killington. Here’s the model run for Tonight and into Wednesday: 

Image from Tropicaltidbits

Wednesday is going to be extremely warm for this time of year. Temperatures will climb to the 60’s in the lower elevations, and into the lower-middle 50’s in the higher elevations. Coupled with lingering rain showers in the north, conditions aren’t going to be good. If you head out as soon as the resorts open, you could get a few runs in, but also be aware of icy patches from yesterday's melting that refroze overnight. It’s probably a good idea to just avoid heading out this Wednesday all together, resorts will likely close anyways. We’ll have updates for you on that in our Wednesday forecast. Here’s the temperature forecast for Wednesday: 

Image from Tropicaltidbits

After the hefty warm up we will see on Wednesday, temperatures will even out a bit for the remainder of the week. Highs will fall back into the mid to upper 30’s on Thursday, following the cold front that will drop into the region on Wednesday night. A weak system will pass just to our south, bringing some potential precipitation to southern New England Thursday evening, but should not amount to much up north. The bigger story for the ladder part of the week is another round of precipitation that will arrive later on.

Thursday night will finally drop back below freezing  - this may allow for snow makers to get a few hours of snowmaking in to rebuild the lost snowpack from the mild week we are expecting. Friday will exhibit similar temperatures to Thursday - low to mid 30’s - as high pressure crests over the region. This will be short lived, as a warm front ahead of a system moves in from the southwest Friday night.

With the cold air in the north fighting the warm, moist air from the south, we will likely see mixed precipitation in central New England, with mostly rain to the south and mostly snow further north. While this isn’t great news for the ski resorts, it is certainly better than 60 degrees.

The precipitation will continue into early Saturday morning, with a greater potential for a mix of rain and snow as temperatures drop below freezing. Most of the remnants from this system should move out by late morning, with the possibility for more rain showers later in the day. Highs will likely creep toward the 40’s again on Saturday, but nothing looks to get quite as warm as what we will be seeing this week.

Despite this fairly disappointing outlook in terms of temperature and snowfall, there is still hope for the remainder of the season. We are only in mid-Febrarary; winter isn’t over yet!

Christopher Hohman, Plymouth State Student Meteorologist

Julia Moreland, Plymouth State Student Meteorologist